David Leopold

Silver Academy student 1969-1979

After nine years at the Yeshiva, I went to Susquehanna High School and then the University of Pittsburgh. With a degree in theater history and administration I thought I would follow my twin brother John out west and run a small theater company in the Bay Area. But as with so many things, life intervened. A cancelled meeting in Bucks County, led me to visit with my great Aunt Rae Solowey, whose husband, Ben, was an internationally renowned painter. They had created a paradise for themselves and his art on a 34 acre farm in a little village in Bucks County.

Rae was Esther Yaverbaum, my grandmother’s sister. Esther’s husband, my grandfather, Irving, had helped to found the Yeshiva with his longtime friend Rabbi Silver. Esther was a force of nature unto herself, and she was delighted when I started to visit my Aunt Rae. Long story short, Rae was looking for someone to take on the farm and keep it open for future generations to enjoy. Although reluctant at first, I did agree, and 25 years ago, we started presenting regular exhibitions of Ben Solowey’s work and his contemporaries in Ben’s remarkable studio on the property. My research on Ben lead to his celebrated "Theater Portraits," charcoal drawings from life of performers on Broadway, opera, film and dance that appeared in the New York Times an the Herald Tribune. I noticed that often Ben’s drawings appeared alongside the work of Al Hirschfeld. I decided to write to Hirschfeld to see if he had any recollections of Ben, which led to an invitation to visit with him at his home and studio in New York.

Soon I found myself working as his personal archivist, visiting him at least once a week in his studio for 13 years. When he died in 2003, I was asked to work for the new non-profit foundation created in his name and I worked for the next 12 years alongside his wife, Louise. I am now the Al Hirschfeld Foundation’s Creative Director. In the last 25 years, I have curated an number of exhibitions on Hirschfeld’s work, written two books, and number of articles on different aspects of his work. I have also continued to organize exhibitions and write books on a wide variety of artists including well known figures such as Irving Berlin and the Berenstain Bears, as well as a many under appreciated artists for museums around the country and in Europe.

I now live on the Solowey farm in Bucks County, and go to New York once a week for work. I was fortunate to attend the Yeshiva when Rabbi Silver was a living breathing part of what it was about, and the teachers at that time were a group of interesting individuals who poured their heart and soul into our education. Elkie Koplovitz, who taught both second and seventh grades, was a favorite as was her sister, Pearl Hoffman who taught 5th grade. Rabbi Stein, Rabbi Goldberg and Mar Ghadsi were instrumental in my Jewish education. It seemed like such a small community in the 1970s when I went to the Yeshiva, yet we lived in a Jewish world. We walked to school (I was even a member of the school safety patrol) and there were so many succahs to visit right in the neighborhood. I always felt that my Yeshiva education really gave me a leg up when I entered realm of public schools, and the sense of community has remained a vital part of my life ever since.